Ford EcoSport : Official Review

This is a discussion on Ford EcoSport : Official Review within Official New Car Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Originally Posted by Gizmokid
Ladies & Gentlemen, The Eagle has landed!!!! :-)
Congrats mate. Looking forward to your post in ...

Congrats mate. Looking forward to your post in ownership thread. But you could have kept atleast first few letters of your Regn number visible to us. It would have been easy for us to identify your vehicle on the road

I booked Ecosport 1.5 Petrol AT on July 26th with AVK Ford, Powai (price list enclosed). They quoted 5 months waiting period initially and I had booked on the condition that I would need the delivery within 3 months else I would cancel. I had also given them an option that if in case AT is indeed in extremely short supply, I could settle for Titanium (O) MT in either Ecoboost / TDCI variants. However, even after a week, they do not seem to have a clue on the 3 month allocation breakup nor the SE is able to provide me with a booking number.

I am not casting any aspersions as they were quite upfront in the initial interaction and I managed 3 TDs albeit short ones, Ecoboost and TDCI on July 26th and Fiesta AT on July 27th. Today, I called them to ask if they were going to make the 1st set of deliveries any time soon as other dealers had started deliveries and the SE had no clue on this as well.

Due to limited parking space in the housing society and to make some space for the new vehicle, I put one of my vehicles, Accent GLE 2006 on sale and it got snapped within a week. Now I am wondering if this is the dealer who is so disorganized or is it a Ford issue?

I guess I will also need to figure out a backup buy in case I am unlucky with the Ecosport buy. There are zilch discounts being offered by Mumbai dealers on Ertiga ZXI and Maruti has made a disaster with their CNG launch by offering in VXI (without ABS) trim. Fiat also does not seem to have learnt any lessons by keeping a higher premium for Linea Tjet Emotion trim.

I am wondering if it would take at least 2 more months of bad sales numbers for other manufacturers to wake up and counter the Ecosport pricing with some decent promotions or do they know that ford would anyway mess up on deliveries and all they have to do is just wait for customers who do not get Ecosport deliveries and would come to them by default.

+1 I am not a fan of the Alloys as well. I think it is more of a floral design, a Geometric design would have comprehended for the aggressive styling of the Eco-sport.

Ok, so it isn't 'only' me. Yeah, the design looked a bit different for me and IMOO, it could have been better (either a neutral design or a more aggressive one). This does seem floral yes, come to think of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by msmatic

Price protection is not being offered by Ford, so it doesn't matter when you book, you have to pay the prevailing price at the time of delivery, and going by the current waiting periods of 1 year we might end up paying a higher price. So, one might as well come back after an year and buy the car off the shelf as competition might have caught up by then, instead of booking now.

That's right. No one offers price protection. But if anyone is invariably going to pay EMIs on the car, they could (if they can afford) pay off the dealer the entire cost of the car and start paying those EMIs. This way, they're insulated from any future price increases (once they're invoiced for the complete amount).

Yes, I acknowledge there are several negatives with this approach like being dependent on the dealer once the full payment is done, not getting the choice to haggle on nitty gritties and trivial issues, etc.. But like I've heard and member Sam003 is commenting below, a price rise of even 30K over a 3 year loan, with interest could lead to an increased payout of 1K a month. That could be better utilized elsewhere (accessories, fuel?).

'Maybe' a full payment will also make the dealer be more friendlier towards you and possibly a quicker delivery (not that I recommend becoming friendlier is required).

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam003

Heard price is increased by 30-40K. One of my friend from hyd told this.

Steep and too soon, if that happens. I heard such a news too (about an increased being explored, not this amount) just yesterday from a colleague. I posted about it a few pages prior to this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ACM

Actually you do seem maybe to have become a stranger to general tastes. (in your own words) . This is one of the best OEM alloy design seen this sides of 20L on a vehicle in India. Most people do seem to like the design and it does suite the vehicle especially in the 16" size. The 15' accessories alloy though is quite dull in my view.

lol. Agree that the 15 inchers aren't appealing. But the 16" is still a little 'different' for me. If I do end up purchasing this vehicle, I doubt I'd be able to exchange it's alloys immediately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

Hi Ajay..I got the Tdci Titanium and it is Sea Grey.

a) Head light beam throw & intensity : I was driving in the city with street lights practically everywhere. So at least in the city, i couldn't find any faults with the throw & intensity. Maybe i can try it once in the parking or dark area and check for it specifically and let you know.

b) Driveability - Coming from a petrol car, it does feel weird. But its probably not a car that will start from 0 in 2nd. Like all the reviews said, it gets sprightly around 14-1500rpm below which it feels lethargic. Past that, the 2nd feels short. The 3rd is where it seems suddenly lively and very driveable. I could potter around in bumper traffic at around 25 with very little clutch. The steering, which is the other aspect of driveability is definitely suited for city. Its light (for some, way too light) but precise. It takes very little effort but i dont think it tends towards over-steering if thats the question bothering most. It will take getting used to for sure!

As for the alloys, yes, they do seem a bit overdone. What part of the car isnt? But the sum of parts is great on the eye.

Thanks Nilesh and congrats once again. The Sea Grey I suppose looks great. I'll look out for your review thread for some photos of the car taken in daylight. Also will wait for your feedback on the headlight once you've experienced them.

Good choice regarding the diesel as everyone that've driven it seem to rate it highly for the city use, which is where most cars will be 80% of its time. Vidyut mentioned that it does run out of steam on the highways, but that's if you constantly drive at speeds higher than 120kph.

Wish you an enjoyable and memorable ownership.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizmokid

Ladies & Gentlemen, The Eagle has landed!!!! :-)
A long wait of 9 months (decision made in Oct '12) culminated in a fabulous way today, with me taking the delivery of the Ecosport, from Mr. Joginder Singh HIMSELF!

Really felt special to be amongst the 1st 5 people to get our hands on the car. It is natural tendency to believe that you got to know someone at the dealership to get the 1st lot of cars, but this experrience changed all that. The GM of Cauvery Ford introduced me with my name, designation at my company, and behold - "Sir, he is also a Team-BHP member"

Heart congratulations. For some reason it feels good to know a member who dared to be an early adopter has been recognised aptly by Ford and is being thanked for it (even if it is a PR stunt), but even some kindness goes a long way.. The small ceremony for whatever reason was celebrated, was meaningful as it made you and the other families taking delivery feel pleasant/special.

Great that you've already got the delivery when people are being asked to wait 6+ months. Enjoy the exclusivity before our roads all looks like Mars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anumod

Here are some pictures . Blue is looking good in flesh

Thanks for the pictures, it's the first time I've seeing the blue even through photos. If I do get this color, I'm considering painting the roof white (I'm silly, yeah).

Members @ Blore: any showroom in B'lore that has the Blue Ec(h)oSport on display?

Td'd the EcoBoost on monday. Thry specially had to take out the car from the stockyard, guess no one is interested in petrol.
Also, no mandatory accessories and no forced insurance from Ford only. So that's good. Waiting period of upto 5 months, but possibly get it under 3 months.

All the Mars Red are Titanium option EcoBoost and rest all are TDCi. Got to see nearly all the colours, except the black and sea grey.
Leaning towards the white or the chill metallic.

I booked my Ford Ecosport TDCI - Titatnium (O) - Mars Red on the 24th of June with Riddhi Ford on Mathura Road in New Delhi.

I booked the car a couple of days before the price announcement (just happened to be called for a test drive as I had shown interest in the car and spoken to the dealership a couple of times earlier and decided to go ahead and book as I was guaranteed by the dealer that no cancellation charges would be levied if I did not like the price)

Coming to the point, the dealer says that they have still not started any deliveries and is quoting me a wait time of upto 3 months.

Any Team-Bhp member in Delhi who has got the delivery of their Ecosport ? And specifically any from Riddhi Ford ?

Ford India badly needs to get its dealers in line as they are non committal even on the booking number leave alone the various complaints of insurance and accessories being forced on the customers.

Also, sometime back I had read about the handling charges being charged by the Dealers as Illegal, Riddhi Ford is charging 7500/- What is the latest on this ?

I'm so happy to be part of Team-bhp.
Unfortunately my first post is about a topic much discussed in this forum

I Booked Ambiente Variant of Ecosport in Black with Kairali FordThrissur, kerala with booking no 68 and allotment in July. They did a commendable job right till yesterday.

I had asked them to give the 16" alloy wheels which comes for the Titanium models as an accessory at the time of booking. I fell in love with the alloy wheels right from the day I saw the concept vehicle. it is a beautiful design.

Yesterday a representative from the kairali ford called me to tell that those alloy wheels will cost me 80,000 i.e around 10% of the vehicle value, which is really exorbitant and looks like fleecing an auto enthusiast (considering they sell the 15" ones at around 27000).

I really loved the Ford EcoSport and its price tag. Just this call from kairali ruined it all for me. I still will be taking the vehicle from them. Hoping they would give me a reasonable price tag and get back to me!

I was forced to complain to Ford customer through email,awaiting their reply.
I wonder why companies think they can take Indian consumers for a ride. Please don't ruin your reputation Ford! You are doing a great job till now.

Last edited by moralfibre : 5th July 2013 at 13:40.
Reason: Only two smileys per post please